New York State Legislature Joint Legislative Committee on Charitable and Philanthropic Agencies and Organizations Report

The Joint Legislative Committee on Charitable and Philanthropic Agencies and Organizations was created via joint resolution of the legislature on March 21, 1953, because of the lack of an agency or official to regulate organizations or persons collecting private funds for charitable purposes. Chaired by Edward P. Larkin, the committee's mandate was to root out waste, abuse, and fraud in non-profit organizations to hold them accountable to their donors. It later focused investigations on communist and "un-American" infiltration of these organizations. The committee's existence was renewed annually by the legislature through 1957, after which its powers were invested in the Office of the Attorney General.

This report, the second that the committee produced, focused exclusively on clandestine communist influence in charitable organizations. Openly communist organizations were not part of the report's scope; it instead looked at groups that did not profess any such ties, but may have had them behind the scenes. Two organizations, the Civil Rights Congress and the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born, were specifically analyzed as examples.

Series A0795 State Police Non-criminal Investigation Files contains transcripts of hearings and other records of this committee.

The New York State Library holds reports of this committee dating from 1953-1957.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.